Thursday, 17 August 2017

....some years back a new and sole Lib Dem council member was struggling during their first few days......

Without any fuss, Paget-Brown quietly helped the new member to find her feet.As a ward councillor, Paget-Brown never failed to come to the aid of residents and was always unfailingly polite.Sadly, someone has to take the bullet for the Grenfell tragedy but, if we are realistic, we know that the seeds of the disaster were sown well before Paget-Brown took office.Kicking a man when he is down is a very British sport but the Dame, not being British, will not be joining in. Instead, she wishes Nick the best of luck for the future.If the truth be told he was actually a rather good leader but the circumstances he had to contend with were of such magnitude that few would have coped.

Wednesday, 16 August 2017

The Dame and Cllr Moylan have one thing in common; they are both appalling old snobs and social climbers so the dear old Dame was not in the least surprised to see Cllr Moylan poncing around on some dreadful Channel 4 prog charting the life of yet another terrible old social alpinist and friend of the vile Mo Fayed, Raine Spencer.

Danny Moylan at a fancy
dress do.

Raine and Danny have in common Brum as their home city and despite Raine's old mum, Barbara, desperately distancing herself the fact remains the family's humble origins were in the brass foundry trade.Anyway, you can see Danny in his 'to the manor born' mode during this excruciating piece of nonsense. LINKNow that Danny's career in local government has ground to an ignominious halt can we expect to see him on telly commenting on the affairs of lords and ladies? He certainly has the right plummy accent.

Saturday, 12 August 2017

Quite a few Conservative councillors were lobbied in an attempt to make them take up the leadership mantle but they all fell to making excuses...." I would have loved to but I have an exotic holiday planned"....and, " sorry, but I have a gammy leg" and, " I don't do poisoned chalices, thanks"

Cllr Moylan offered Dizzie Lizzie Poisoned Chalice

At last, the king makers got to Dizzy Lizzie Campbell. Without hesitation, Dizzie Lizzie said, "oh, yes please and how much more dosh will I get?"

Tuesday, 1 August 2017

My usual response to trolling on social media is ‘one factual rebuttal and walk away’. However, the continued false accusations linking me to the decision on the refurbishment of Grenfell Tower has now lasted for six weeks, and a good friend has been physically attacked for defending me.

So here are some checkable facts which I hope will end this slander.

I joined the Board of the TMO in June 2008 and left in October 2012. Here is a link to the Board of Directors, also showing which Councillors were on it and when (nb Elizabeth Campbell was on the Board for a year):

During my tenure there had been numerous complaints about the condition of Grenfell Tower: broken lifts, draughty windows, poor insulation, and the heating and hot water system regularly breaking down.

In October 2012 (around the time I left the TMO) the then Cabinet Member Cllr Tim Coleridge announced that a major refurbishment would be undertaken. At the time the proposed contractor was Leadbitter. The scope of the work was agreed at the time, but the detail was to come. Link to press release:

In April 2014 it was announced by the Council and TMO that due to costs the contract had been awarded to Rydon rather than Leadbitter who had scoped the work. Note that this was AFTER the planning application was granted approval:

There were several amendments during this period, which is not unusual in a project of this scale. Often the details of these are done by ‘delegated decision’, which means the final details and choice of materials is decided by officers and not the Planning Committee.

Then on 30 September 2014 ‘Condition 3’ was agreed by delegated decision; this related to the final choice of cladding:

Who made those decisions, advised by whom, and why, should be thoroughly scrutinised by the agencies tasked with the job of investigating these matters and allocating accountability, responsibility, blame and – we hope ultimately – guilt.

To be clear, I was on the Board when the principle of refurbishing Grenfell Tower was discussed, but I was nowhere near the decision-making process for the detailed specifications for refurbishing Grenfell which started when I left. Board members agreed the contract but do not specify cladding or indeed any other technical details. Neither should they.

Though the Dame is rich beyond imaginings she would not wish to come up against Sir Pooter Cockell or Sir Delboy Myers in the High Court.The aesthetic distress of having to look at these two be(k)nighted bounders-and worse, being in the same room, would be too much for the frail old thing.Can all the sweet Hornet people bear this in mind when they accuse Delboy and Pooter.Cornered rats can get desperate and the Dame has had to censor one or two very apt comments impugning the integrity of these outstandingly unpleasant knights.